


Gossip Rags

by confettiinmyhair



Category: Vampire Chronicles - Anne Rice
Genre: Anti-Marius Sentiments, Gen, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-18 07:20:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18245069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/confettiinmyhair/pseuds/confettiinmyhair
Summary: Daniel knows better, by now, than to ever speak on the record.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was there at the ff.net takedown, so I really do feel compelled to ask, even here, even now: Do you REALLY think I'm making money off of this?

“You seem to be less and less glued to Marius, these days.”

For a quiet moment, Daniel watched David’s fingers amble across the keyboard, watched as the the input field was populated with a gradual density of words, the periodic and subtle flicker of the document indicating its autosave was active.

Somewhere under that new body and new power and any host of things that David had never asked for, he was still the archivist. Still the scientist, the anthropologist, tugging strings to see where they lead, observing and cataloging all the way down.

Tonight’s project seemed to be a transcription of some of Benji’s older podcasts, from before - from before. 

It was almost too much.  
David with his wafer-thin computers and Benji with his whispered little serials, both nigh unthinkable when Daniel had been transcribing Louis’ story all those decades ago from his cassettes by way of the Smith-Corona Super Sterling that he’d been given for a high school graduation present, battered up as it had slowly become through college and the year or so since that graduation.  
Unthinkable, and an absolute marvelous delight.  
Speak and be heard, instantly, now. Type and be read. 

“That doesn’t sound like a real question,” he finally chided.

David’s fingers stilled on the keys, but only for a moment before he was off again.

“It wasn’t an accusation. I think that -”

Daniel finally glanced up, finally watched David considering his words more carefully.

“All I meant to say is that you seem happier.”

“Maybe,” Daniel shrugged. He was annoyed that it had been obvious alongside a twin flush of delight at it. It was a light tone with which he teased, “Still don’t trust you, though.”

With a dramatic sigh, David made a show of taking his hands away from the keyboard, eyebrows raised in equal supplication.

“Better?”

Daniel glanced around the jam-packed little library with all of its free-standing shelves, with the way it seemed to muffle every sound like a perfect recording booth, and shook his head.

“No. You’ve been inside for days. We’re going for a walk.”

**


	2. Chapter 2

“So, what did make you leave?” David asked, finally, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his long blazer, shoulders hunched up - some kind of habit to try and make himself look like he was guarding against a chill.

They paused for the crossing light and Daniel stuck David with a hard glare.

“If this goes in your gossip rags-”

“Never. I’m just - can I not be concerned, for a friend?”

The light turned, and they walked on.

“Sure, but you’re asking something else.”

David didn’t meet his gaze, took a moment to answer.

“We all just watch it happen over and over, because there’s nothing that any of us can do. He wraps people up in what he thinks is love, and abandons them completely the moment he realizes that he is not the religious center of their lives. He’s the arbiter of right and wrong, because the rest of us are too stupid, or something, and… and somehow, it’s everything that Lestat aspires to be. And that… it _horrifies_ me, Daniel. I’ve barely been able to stomach being alone with him, ever since he turned me, but that just makes it worse and worse, year by year. I worry about all of us, if nothing changes.”

That was a surprise, in ways. That kind of a confession, right out there in the night air, hanging heavy like a mist around their legs.  
It softened something, finally, in Daniel’s heart.

“I needed everything that happened,” Daniel answered, slowly at first. “I needed it, but just because something helps doesn’t mean that it isn’t awful.”

David seemed to be watching him, seemed to be pulling a thought together, but he nodded for Daniel to continue.

“It was easy, you know? So easy. Being given a quiet space to rest, being given the clothes someone else thinks are beautiful, being given a role… such a simple role. And he was good to me, as long as I was a docile piece of art for him to tow around. And that was fine, for a while. It was enough to be his pet project. Enough for me to finally build some piece of myself back up.”

David still said nothing, and Daniel met his gaze with a shrug.

“You’re right. He has to fix everything, in his exact way, and it turns the moment anyone pushes back, when we can’t follow his ridiculous rules down to the absolute letter.” He sighed, rolling his eyes, “I ignored him while he ignored me for Lestat and the others. And I was too concerned about what he’d done to Benji. And I was too concerned about what he’d done to _Sybelle_ , for that matter. And I could feel him drifting away, little by little, because he resented it, so that was just… and, god, Armand was just so shocked to see me. The way he kept looking at Marius, then, I think I finally understood. And it just breaks my heart.”

“Understood what Marius was like?” David asked, carefully.

“No. Well, yes, but I meant - what happened with me and Armand.”

There was a furrow to David’s eyebrows, a purse to his lips that revealed some sliver of the old man he’d been - something jaded and cautious.

“You’d be as old as I was, if he’d never turned you. Wouldn’t you?”

“No. I was dying. So many of my friends were dead already. And I wanted this long before that, anyhow.” 

He paused, let that sink in, nodded for David to follow him around a corner. 

“Armand wasn’t ready. He loved who I was, and who I was always becoming, and - and everything… the things that we did were a fascination for him, but they were always for my sake. Never anything I didn’t want. And he wanted a life outside of himself, for me. But then I was dying, and losing me would have been worse, so he finally gave in, after all of those years of me begging. And I assumed everything would just carry on, but… but I think he was worried that the shine would go off of him, for me, the way it had gone with Marius… and it was confusing, how cold he could suddenly be. I know it was just his hesitation, but at the time… it felt like a rejection. A rejection I didn’t want to watch happen, so I… left.”

“Would staying have made a difference?” There was something so kind in the question, but it felt again like David was asking something else entirely. Daniel didn't feel compelled to go digging.

“I have no idea, and that might hurt the most.” Daniel shook his head, casting about for a moment before he sniffed a deep steadying breath - a strange old habit, when there was no need to breathe, “We could have had… decades, you know? If we’d just talked? If we hadn’t pulled back from each other, if we’d just. You know.”

“But you’re happier knowing. Yes?”

Daniel nodded.

“Being on my own is better right now, even if I’m around everyone, day-to-day. And maybe someday, he and I can have something again. But just the way he reacted to Marius, around me… I think that was everything.”

They walked in silence, turning again, down toward the riverfront. Daniel pulled up his phone screen, checking the time - still a few hours from dawn. Plenty of time. Something occurred to him, then, something he didn’t care to hold in.

“You hate Lestat, don’t you? Underneath it all.”

David’s laugh was a muffled scoff, fleeting, as he glanced toward the sky, picking out what few stars were visible through the city’s ambient glow.

“I told him over and over that I didn’t want this. That I wanted to go when it was my time. But then there was this new, awful body, and I was shellshocked, he was greedy, and it didn’t matter that I was his friend, and it didn’t matter what I wanted. And maybe I don’t want to die now, but looking at him, looking what he keeps becoming, and knowing that I’m less and less able to even consider forgiving him…”

“You’re leaving, aren’t you?”

They were up against the guardrail now, watching the reflection of lights dancing on the flowing water.

“Yes,” David nodded, voice barely more than a whisper. “We are. I can’t keep pretending, and Jesse isn’t… she took her aunts’ deaths harder than you could possibly imagine, and we’re probably going. At least for a while.”

There was a pause, nothing but the sloshing rush of water, before he added, “You should come with us. Armand might even understand.”

“What I do or don’t do isn’t his choice,” Daniel smiled back. “So, let’s say that I’ll think about it.”

“That's all anyone can do,” David agreed, and pushed off of the railing, turning back toward the rush of traffic that they’d left behind. “If you ever tire of Trinity Gate, you let me know. It’s not the only house in the city.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chitter chitter chat 
> 
> maybe daniel will go on vacation, maybe he won't, we'll see what my schedule looks like

**Author's Note:**

> I read Prince Lestat, which was... just offputting... and have only had the recent two books described to me and have decided to roundly ignore them.
> 
> Feedback always welcome and appreciated.


End file.
